Windows 8 Survival Guide- What Do You Think?

It seems to me they designed the whole OS to work as a touch interface like a giant tablet. As a fan of Windows 7 I’m pretty bummed out to think that they are chasing their tail and instead of building off of Windows 7 success going completely in a different direction.

Do you anticipate wanting to use your fingers in a touch interface on your PC screen?

It seems Microsoft assumes that everyone just wants to use tablets and they are putting a huge amount of stock into the belief that people want their PC’s to act like tablets.

I dont think that at all. I think people want tablets to be mobile and lightweight and less expensive. to make them light and portable that is why they forgo the physical keyboard. But people that want serious computers for writing and photo editing and video editing aren’t using a touch interface. I feel like they are dumbing the PC down.

Maybe I’m all wrong. Guess I’ll have to wait til it comes out./ I wish there was a Microsoft store where I could bang around on a Windows 8 PC to see if my fears are justified.

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I have been using Windows 8 for a few days now and I must say I agree with you. I don’t want to use my PC the same way I use a tablet. I must say though, that with a little (no maybe a lot) of customization, you can get Windows 8 pretty much acting like Windows 7. Just a matter of copying shortcuts from the new “Start” screen and placing them on the desktop. There are also a few third party tweaks that you can use to create more of a Windows 7 desktop. I still can’t figure out why they messed with the start button. One major advantage you should notice though is the speed. First of all it only took me only 15 minutes to install it on a four year old computer that had 8GB of RAM and an older hard drive. Also, if you have a system with a decent amount of RAM the boot up time rocks. I watched my coworker boot a laptop today in 9 seconds. So far I have only found one piece of software that doesn’t seem to work right. Other than that all the regular software from Adobe like Photoshop and all work fine. All in all I would say so far it’s OK????? Good luck.

It’s a frankenstein abomination. You can strip and get it to look and act somewhat normal, more like Win7 but it will still be carrying this massive slick overhead of crap. It is trying to pump up the Surface Tablet but Windows is too late to that party. They should just do another service pack for win7.

Hi Joey,
I just read your post about wishing for a Microsoft store. There aren’t any that are local but I think that there is one at the Rockingham Mall in NH and one at The Prudential Center in Boston. I stopped at Staples up in Seabrook and they showed me a computer with Windows 8. Not very practical in my opinion.
Good luck!

Win8 might be OK for people who sit down at one two computers and can take a little time to customize it they way they want. That probably describes a lot of home users. If it is faster loading then it would be worth it. I would likely wait until Service Pack 1 to arrive though because there does seem to be some unfinished aspects to it.

The reason why I’ll stick with Win7: I have a dozen Win7 boxes in my lab. They run stuff and have to be set up exactly the same way. Occasionally when something gets wonky the first thing is take it out of production and reformat or throw it away and bring another one in. I might have to sitt in front of one and do a few things after not touching it for a month. For all those reasons the last thing I need is that the computer has to be customized from the default settings. I need them all to act the same. I can’t waste time trying to find a program or a printer.

It’s also the reason why when given a choice I put a Macintosh on the desk. After a month running on someone’s desk I know I can sit down in front of it and find what I need to find. My situation is a special case but in reality it is helpful for others. Your brother or nephew is having a problem with their computer. Can you sit down and fix it faster if the computer set up is familiar? Not if someone has had to customize it like crazy.

I like Win7 service pack 1. It is as close to the Macintosh as Windows has ever gotten. Sort of like Mac OS 10.4 from six years ago. They should stick with that and put out service pack 2. Windows8 is touch screen and I don’t want everyone touching my screen. (But they won’t be able to help themselves with all these chiclets on screen.)

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As long as supplies last if any GMG folks want a bumper sticker but can't drop down the dock, just send a self addressed and stamped envelope longer then 7 and a half inches and I'll drop one in the mail for you.

Send the self addressed and stamped envelope to the dock at 95 East Main St Gloucester Ma 01930 care of Joey (put my name in big letters to make sure it gets to me)